Belconnen Burglaries and how to prevent them - BCC May Forum

Plenty of “terrorists and other fun stuff” in the ACT according to Tooks:

“The trucks are expected to respond to about 300 incidents a year, ranging from suspicious packages to white powder threats.”

Just the facts mam (Dragnet cica 1960)

Forgive my terrible math, but if Belconnen has roughly 91k residents, that makes them 25%ish percent of the 358kish ACT population… and if there were 563 breakins our of 5097 total, that represents about 11% of all breakins for the ACT.

So, assuming a fairly equal household density distribution between Belcompton households and those of the other areas…. how exactly is Belconnen ‘over represented in this crime statistic’?

I assume you dont work down on Benjamin Way (or, at least, not on the west side).

I have had cause to contact Police twice (non-emergency) while in Canberra and both times they were at my door within 10 minutes. I think they do a great job in a city that is wildly over-populated by spankers and arseclowns!

When the local Ngunnawal people tried to steal the wifes car and she scared them off at 2am by dashing outside in a nightie and screaming at them, the po-po were there in minutes.

Nothing but praise for them here.

Jim Jones said :

EvanJames said :

I watch a major Canberra road from my window all day, and you see some horrendous stupidity out there, but none of us has ever seen a police person doing anything about it.

There’s a road without police on it. They turn up after an accident.

Whoop-de-f%^king-doo. Whaddya want, squads of police on each and every road in Canberra?

Maybe there should be a squad of police in this thread to combat the ‘horrendous stupidity’.

+1

I don’t get people using the fact that they haven’t seen squadrons of police patrolling the streets (or their street at the very least) as a sign that the police is lazy and not interested in combatting petty crime.

In my dealings with ACT police and what I’ve heard of others who’ve dealth with car theft or house break-ins, I have always found them professional and pretty darn fast compared to other places where I’ve lived.

I’ve no idea if 500whatever burglaries is a lot for an area of that size. It all depends what you compare it too. If it worries you, an alarm is much more effective than a deadlock or even a dog.

I’m not anti police. You just quoted a whole bunch of my words praising police. Or are ACT Police the only police? I’m not sure there are any ACT police, I never see any.

Sorry, I meant anti-ACT Police, as it was a very obvious dig at them (and confirmed in that last sentence). You praised a NSW patrol for catching motorists but I didn’t see any other praise for police in your comments.

I watch a major Canberra road from my window all day, and you see some horrendous stupidity out there, but none of us has ever seen a police person doing anything about it.

All day? As in all 8 hrs (or more) of the day you’re sitting looking out the window. I don’t believe that for a second, and neither do you. BTW, what road is it (I’ll understand if you don’t want to answer that)? Have you contacted ACT police to air your concerns about the perceived lack of police presence on that road? Thought not.

They do turn up when the horrendous stupidity results in a crash. There was a head-on the other day caused by two road ragers who refused to merge. I was talking to the bloke who was coming the other way and got cleaned up, reckoned the police weren’t interested in why the crash happened, they turned up, did their forms and things and that was that, claim your insurance.

That’s his interpretation. Police will get all driver’s version of events and that of any witnesses who may have hung around. If they have enough evidence to prove who was at fault, a TIN/s or summons is the most likely outcome. If that particular driver you spoke with was unsatisfied with the actions of police, then he can take that up with the relevant people.

it’s really impressive the way you try to defend the indefensible, Tooks, it really is.

Thanks, but when did I defend the indefensible though? I just responded to your ill-informed whinge with real life examples countering your comments about police not responding to petty crime and traffic offences, which I notice you failed to respond to.

But Canberra is not being served by its police force in the way most people seem to expect.

What do you base that on? Are your views representative of most Canberrans? Crime statistics, full jails, and clogged Magistrates and Supreme Courts would tend to suggest otherwise, would it not?

And when they’re being given riot control vehicles and suchlike, it’s pretty evident that their view of their role vs the view of the citizenry are two different things.

Every police jurisdiction was given one of those IRRC. In fact, I think the ACT was the last jurisdiction to get one of those vehicles. That vehicle will be used operationally in the ACT (by tactical response)for many different purposes.

You’d be more convincing if you didn’t resort to insulting the people you disagree with, by the way. Really lops off the legs of your argument.

If you’re insulted, then I suggest you are being a bit precious and extraordinarily thin-skinned. Don’t be insulted just because I am as passionate about my point of view as you are about yours. You think you’re right and I think I’m right. To me, this is a fairly civilised argument and a bit of fun. I might have a dig at your opinions, but I didn’t have a dig at you personally (I didn’t think I did anyway).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying ACT police are perfect, but I’d have to say that having lived in several different states, the cops we have here stack up pretty well, in my experience.

EvanJames said :

I watch a major Canberra road from my window all day, and you see some horrendous stupidity out there, but none of us has ever seen a police person doing anything about it.

There’s a road without police on it. They turn up after an accident.

Whoop-de-f%^king-doo. Whaddya want, squads of police on each and every road in Canberra?

Maybe there should be a squad of police in this thread to combat the ‘horrendous stupidity’.

Tooks said :

If you’re going to post these anti-police rants, fair enough, but at least make them factual, rather than crap based on your ignorance of how policing works. Normally I’d give you the benefit of the doubt and just assume you’re trolling, but I’m starting to believe you actually believe the stuff you write.

I’m not anti police. You just quoted a whole bunch of my words praising police. Or are ACT Police the only police? I’m not sure there are any ACT police, I never see any.

I watch a major Canberra road from my window all day, and you see some horrendous stupidity out there, but none of us has ever seen a police person doing anything about it. They do turn up when the horrendous stupidity results in a crash. There was a head-on the other day caused by two road ragers who refused to merge. I was talking to the bloke who was coming the other way and got cleaned up, reckoned the police weren’t interested in why the crash happened, they turned up, did their forms and things and that was that, claim your insurance.

it’s really impressive the way you try to defend the indefensible, Tooks, it really is. But Canberra is not being served by its police force in the way most people seem to expect. And when they’re being given riot control vehicles and suchlike, it’s pretty evident that their view of their role vs the view of the citizenry are two different things.

You’d be more convincing if you didn’t resort to insulting the people you disagree with, by the way. Really lops off the legs of your argument.

ACT Policing seem to think their job is terrorists and other fun stuff.

Yes, they are out in force looking for terrorists, as there is heaps of terrorism in Canberra. It’s quite embarrassing when people confuse ACT Policing with AFP national operations, not to mention ignorant in the extreme. If you had bothered educating yourself at all, you’d know ACT Policing makes up about 10% of the AFP.

Traffic? Petty Crime? naaah. Boring.

I’ve repeated this many times on this site and I’ll do so again. Go and sit in the Magistrates Court pretty much any day of the week and see how many cases of ‘petty’ crime and traffic offences are dealt with there. 1000s of TINS are issued every year in Canberra, 100s of drink drivers are caught each year, 100s of drivers are arrested or otherwise put before Court each year. The same goes with what you call petty crime.

It’s refreshing to see the NSW police doing actual community police stuff over the border. Our friend in the blue cop-mobile was happily catching idiots again this morning , up on the turnoff to the Ridgeway. It’s amazing how many cars they catch on that stretch. More in the school zone.

Actual community stuff? Traffic duties? Every police force in every jurisdiction in this country does the same. Of course, because you don’t see it on this side of the border it musn’t be happening? Okay, makes sense…I guess all the traffic offenders in Canberra are handing themselves in or receiving TINS from the traffic fairy.

If you’re going to post these anti-police rants, fair enough, but at least make them factual, rather than crap based on your ignorance of how policing works. Normally I’d give you the benefit of the doubt and just assume you’re trolling, but I’m starting to believe you actually believe the stuff you write.

The Frots said :

Tooks said :

damien haas said :

It is worth downloading the AFP Annual report, its a fascinating read. It is interesting that effectively the ACT Government ‘hire’ a police force. Maybe the producivity commission will recommend opening up the process to other bidders one day!

The process has been open to other bidders. IRRC, NSW Police were waaaay too expensive to get the gig.

Really? I thought it was exclusive to the ACT Policing Component part of the original 1979 deal that saw the amalgamation between ACT Police, The Commonwealth Police and the defunct Narcotics Bureau. Could be wrong of course (I recall being wrong in 1985 – terrible experience) but happy to better understand what ‘deals’ we have in place.

Any ideas Tooks?

It’s my understanding VICPOL and NSWPOL don’t want to run ACT Policing. Whether they could do it at a cost acceptable to ACT govt even if they wanted it, I don’t know.

It’s a moot point at the moment anyway, as the govt are happy with the cost and service provided to them at the moment and that’s unlikely to change any time soon.

johnboy said :

I think it’s a mistake to read too much into Denton’s AFP series and how it relates to the work of ACT Policing.

Oh, absolutely it is. But the truth of the matter is that the more serious crimes are more attractive. That, combined with the low probability of solving cold burglaries in residential areas makes it more ‘mudane’ for want of a better word.

That’s not taking anything away from the ACT Police component at all – simply the way it is (in any police force around the world in fact).